After Many Years
by Pikagalmish
Summary: P3: Time has passed, people have moved on...yet she still waits for the promise fresh in her heart. Ken and Maiko.


**Disclaimer**: _Persona 3_ and its affliated characters are property of Shigenori Soejima and ATLUS. I would kill to have the rights. D:  
**  
Warnings**: **Spoilers** for the end of the game. Please don't read if you haven't finished. ):

**A/N**: My brain came up with this pairing out of the blue I-don't-know-how-long-ago, and...yeah. This was written by hand at three in the morning, so I'm surprised it's even remotely coherent. And nope, I can never resist putting just a little bit of AkiMitsu in everything that I do, haha. Please enjoy.

Beta'd by **Auron's Fan **and** Zwip**, much luv for you both.

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**After Many Years**

_A Persona 3 Fanfic_

By Pikagalmish

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**_March 31st, 2016_**

"I'm going out for a bit," the brown-haired teenager called back into the lounge.

His dorm-mates waved before turning back to their lunches.

Closing the door behind him, Amada Ken stretched, glancing down at the grey dog sitting at his feet.

"Ready for a walk, Koromaru?" he said.

"Art arf!!" the dog barked back happily, wagging his tail.

Ken grinned. It was probably because of the Potential, but Koromaru was still as vibrant and energetic as he was back during their days with SEES, nearly seven years ago.

Seven years...

Ken's hand went to his jacket pocket. Through the thick material, he could feel the familiar outline of his Evoker.

A lot had happened since that last battle...

Yukari, Fuuka, Aigis, and even Junpei made it into good universities. After graduating (Fuuka at the top of her class), Junpei and Fuuka both got jobs with various branches of the Kirijou Company. Yukari became the new coach for Gekkoukan's girls' archery team, while Aigis went on to head the Kirijou Group's new research team.

Mitsuru opted out of studying abroad in order to better manage the Company, and graduated from Japan's top university with honours. Akihiko also graduated from university, but spent much of his four years competing in boxing matches around the country, having managed to secure a sponsorship from the Kirijou Company (Of course, the fact that he was dating their CEO probably helped). He proposed to Mitsuru on May 8th, 2014, and, despite her opposition, married into the Kirijou family in order to, quote, "Keep the board members from harassing her". The two of them now have a son, to whom the teenager was "Uncle Amada".

As for Ken... He was about to start his third and final year of high-school. Much to Mitsuru's delight, he had very high chances of becoming both Student Council President as well as his class's valedictorian.

Of course, as Ken had so often learned, anything could happen, so he figured paying a visit to the shrine probably wouldn't hurt.

Taking Koromaru's leash in his hands, the two set off in a brisk trot down the sidewalk. Ken breathed deeply: The scents of spring were prevalent in the air.

It didn't take them long to arrive at Nanagaki Shrine. Ken let Koromaru off his leash to play around, while he himself headed over to the offering box and dropped in a few coins. As he stood there with his hands together in prayer, he felt someone watching him. Turning around, he saw a girl, her brown hair up in two braids on the sides of her head, sitting on the jungle gym and watching him.

"...hello," said Ken, meeting her gaze.

"Hi," the girl greeted back, smiling a bit. The boy couldn't help noticing that she was rather cute.

"Are you from around here?" Ken asked, moving towards her.

The girl nodded, jumping down from the jungle gym.

"I go to Gekkoukan," she said, petting Koromaru as he came around to see who this new person was.

"Really?" Ken said, going to stand next to her. "I don't think I've ever seen you around."

"I'm just a third-year in middle-school, so that's probably why," the girl explained. "You look like you're in high-school, right? And besides, I just moved back here," she added.

"I see," Ken glanced at his watch: He wanted to stop by and see Akihiko and Mitsuru before it got too late, and seeing as they lived all the way on the other side of town, he had to go early. "Sorry, but I'm visiting some friends today, so I have to go," he said, hooking Koromaru's leash back on. "It was nice talking to you, uh..."

"Maiko," the girl said with a bright smile.

"Maiko-san, I'm Amada Ken," he replied, also smiling. "I guess I'll see you around?"

Maiko nodded happily. "I'm always around here, so you know where to find me," she told him.

Ken nodded. "Well, have a nice day," he said, turning to leave.

"You too!" she called back to him.

As he walked away, there was a grin on Ken's face that stayed there even when he reached the Kirijou mansion, where he was immediately attacked by a silver-haired toddler shouting "Uncle Amada!! Uncle Amada!!" in delight.

Mitsuru raised an eyebrow, peeling her son off the brunet.

"Did something happen, Amada?" she asked, holding the struggling toddler in her arms ("Koro!! Koro!!"). "You have quite a peculiar look on your face."

"Do I really?" Ken laughed, stepping inside.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that he met a cute girl," Akihiko said, ushering him into the living room. At the broadening grin, his eyes widened. "Whoa, I was right?"

"That's my own private business, Akihiko-san," Ken said, helping himself to the treats on the table, Koromaru sniffing around his feet.

Akihiko laughed.

"Cheeky," he said, stopping his son from taking half a dozen cookies at once. "So, who's the lucky girl?" he asked.

Ken bit into a cookie. "It's not like that," he told him. "I met her today at the shrine, and she just happens to attend Gekkoukan."

"You certainly seemed to _enjoy_ this meeting," Mitsuru said with a smile. "Will you go to see her again?"

"Maybe, if I get the chance," Ken replied slyly.

The redhead chuckled, pouring herself a cup of tea.

"More and more like Akihiko by the day, I see," she said over her teacup.

"That better be a compliment," Akihiko said indignantly.

"Take it however you may wish," his wife replied with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Ken laughed.

"Don't worry, Akihiko-san, I'm sure Mitsuru-san meant it in the best way possible--"

"ARF ARF ARF!!"

The three of them turned just in time to see the toddler polish off an entire plate of cookies.

- - -

"Hello again," Maiko greeted him from her spot at the bottom of the slide.

"Hello," Ken replied, walking over to her. It had been over a week since their first meeting, and Ken had come to the shrine nearly every day after school.

"How are you adjusting to Gekkoukan?" he asked, taking a seat next to her.

Maiko shrugged.

"It's okay, I guess," she said. "The work's harder than at my old school, but I expected as much."

Ken nodded.

"It's really tough once you reach high-school, though," he warned.

"That's alright," Maiko chirped brightly. "He was able to do it, so I can, too!"

"'He'?" Ken was curious.

"Oh, a high-schooler I used to play with back in elementary school," Maiko explained. Glancing around, she pointed towards the jungle gym. "If you have time, wanna to hang out for a bit?" she smiled sheepishly. "I used to play here all the time, so..."

"Sure," Ken agreed at once. "Why not? It'll be fun."

"Really?" Maiko's eyes sparkled. "Oh yay, thank you!!" she jumped up, happily running towards the jungle gym.

Ken followed after her, the two of them climbing to the top.

"This is so nice..." Maiko sighed dreamily. "It reminds me of when I was a kid..."

Ken thought of something. Leaning, forward, he looked at her.

"Say, Maiko-san, why _do_ you come here so often?" he asked.

"Hm?"

Maiko seemed to ponder on his question for a moment.

"Well..." she looked away, kind of embarrassed. "Don't tell anyone this, okay? But back when I was in second-grade, my parents got a divorce. During the whole process, it was really hard on me, because they wouldn't tell me why they wanted a divorce, and I thought it was all my fault and that they didn't love me anymore. So, I always came here to play and talk with this high-schooler from Gekkoukan. When I decided to run away from home to see if my parents still loved me, he helped them find me and helped me to understand why they wanted a divorce in the first place. When I decided to move away with my mom, I..." Maiko blushed. "This is really, really secret, okay? But the afternoon before I left, I gave him a ring that I had made for him, and...and asked him if we could be a mom and dad together one day," Maiko was really red, now.

"What did he say?" Ken asked.

The girl's blush deepened.

"He...he said yes," she replied, extremely embarrassed. "Kinda silly, right? Me coming down here and expecting him to show up. I mean, it's been so long, he's probably forgotten about it already and has a nice girlfriend somewhere."

"Would you like to know?"

Maiko spun around, eyes wide.

"I know a lot of people who were at Gekkoukan High around that time," Ken told her. "I'm sure one of them must have known him."

The brunette broke out into a big smile.

"Can you really do that?" she said excitedly. "I mean, you don't have to, really, I doubt he even remembers..."

"It's worth a shot, right?" Ken said with a laugh. "Just tell me his name, and I'll see what I can find out."

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!!" Maiko cried, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. To himself, Ken decided that whoever this person Maiko liked so much was was a very lucky guy indeed.

"Um, let's see," Maiko said, sitting back. "His name was...Arisato Minato-san, I think."

Ken's heart nearly stopped.

"Arisato...Minato...?" he said, voice barely above a whisper. His face was deathly pale.

"That's right..." Maiko looked worried. "Why, is something wrong...?"

Silently, Ken climbed down from the jungle gym.

"Maiko-san, there's something I need to tell you," he said. Ken sighed, then motioned towards the bench.

"You may want to sit down for this..."

- **FIN** -

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**As always, please review if you liked it (and assure me that I am not insane for thinking up such a pairing), and uh...I'm going to die waiting for P4 to come out. Ohyes.**

**...**

- **SAKU**


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